Wright refused to withdraw comments he made in a sermon shortly after the September 11 2001 attacks that the events were the result of US foreign policy, or "America's chickens are coming home to roost''.

"You cannot do terrorism on other people and not expect it to come back to you," he said.

"God damns some practices and there's no excuse for the things that the government, not the American people, have done."

"That doesn't make me not like America or unpatriotic.''

Wright also said the attacks on his comments amounted to a misunderstanding of the African-American church and its development through years of slavery and repression of the US black community.

He said his church had a long history of helping the downtrodden and that members of his congregation had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"This is an attack on the black church," he said.

However, the reverend acknowledged that his comments had caused minor damage to the Obama presidential nomination campaign.